Moments of note.

I have been thinking about what I might add to this tasty list of posts. (I say 'tasty' because posts are so infrequent that they had better be purposeful...)
Things have been speeding along quite steadily at this glorious place we call home.
Christmas was beautiful and good. A smallish Christmas. Better than the big ones, for certain.
We are busy, sometimes by choice, sometimes not - but busy nonetheless.

We (Avery and Jaron) have been squealing with excitement at the mere mention of the nearness of Christmas for weeks, and though the "moment" in all it's luster has passed, we are still smitten with thoughts of our holiday.

The EasyBake cookies we make taste better than store bought ones.
Our new Trio castle set has spurred on many an elaborate battle plan that had to be jotted down on paper, lest we forget our strategy in the heat of battle.

So many happy and endearing moments have passed this year, I look over 2009 - and though much change has come our way - there is a constant theme of 'blessed.'

Chris really loves his job. He loves to talk about things that happened throughout his day. To the point that my nearly literally speechless husband has become, at times, downright chatty! It's very nice. What a blessing to see him this happy.

Jaron is a shooting star in his class. Learning so much and really becoming interested in big kid things. He got some cologne for Christmas and he and it have become quite a pair. He wears it always, several squirts at a time, several applications a day.
On Christmas Eve, he was working on a crayon drawing in the living room, I walked by and noticed that as he carefully set each crayon down after using it, he was actually spelling out words with the crayons. "I L-O-V-E T-A-R-Y-N."

Avery is still endearingly adorable. She is so tired of being cute and us telling her cute stories everywhere we go. She actually drew the line in the sand last week and said, "I will NOT be adorable." (Which was completely adorable!) Poor adorable thing! I guess there are worse fates...

My brother and his wife are expecting their first child. We call the baby Yoda. I think the nickname will indeed stick. I am not sure whether Richard's Sweet wife likes it or not, but the child will most assuredly be called Yoda every now and again. I have already bought the baby 18+ month toys and the grand arrival isn't scheduled until July! I cant wait!

My sister is in town and is convinced that my kids carry all things bubonic. We have passed our little 'bugs' onto the rest of my family in a ferocious way. What had us down for moments has kept the rest of the clan down for the count. What a rotten thing to 'give' for Christmas... Sorry Sister!

I hope and pray that all those I love and rarely see or talk to had great Christmases as well.
We are looking for 2010 to be a year that brings about change, although perhaps not as much at 2009. We are ready for a bit less of a whirlwind year!

five

Happy Birthday, my angel.

You're five. Super huge five years old.

I went through your baby clothes up in the attic a few days ago. Tears.
The bracelet you wore during your first few months was so tiny. Almost too small to be a ring for me...

Now...
Your hair is long golden brown and your eyes are giant gooey drops of chocolate.
Your hugs are squishy sweet tight and your kisses are soft drippy wonderful.

You are creative and full of sparkling personality.
You still have the most adorable lisp anybody's ever seen and a dimple perfectly placed on your cheek.
You're everything girly anybody can imagine, everything thoughtful, everything beautiful.
You're a cat person among dog people.
Glitz and glam make you swoon.
While all the other kids want Smarties, you're after a chocolate truffle.
You love long dangly earrings and your nails painted (except for the thumb you use for 'sucking').
You shut the door to your bedroom and sing at the top of your lungs - and as long as nobody's watching, you'll sing and dance all day.
You're the perfect combination of baby and big.


You appeared on the scene quietly as a newborn, and it took you a while to find your opinion, BUT NOW you have this enormous personality, with an opinion on everything. :)
You're not a morning person, but you're always in the mood for snuggling.

You're five.

Delicious, glamorous, enormous, snuggly, adorable, thoughtful, opinionated, sparkling, squishy-sweet, shy, chocolate truffly five.

Five wonderful years make me long for the road ahead.
I cannot wait to know the YOU you turn out to be!

I love you, beautiful Avery.